New bits and bobs around my house

I thought I’d do a little something different today since I spent just about all day yesterday organizing parts of my house, taking photos, sorting through the photos and tweaking the photos. (Amazing how time consuming this ends up being). I acquired a few things recently so I thought I’d share them with you. Keep in mind I still have plans to tear this house down in the (hopefully) near future but in the meantime I still need to keep myself amused with decorating it.

I did a little something in my dressing room which you can check out over on themourningcloak.com. On the same wavelength as that little project, there are a couple of new additions to my living room. First, I decided that I was tired of not really having anything over the sofa (it’s been 5 or 6 years) and since I have next to no space to display anything in this house, I decided to stick a shelf there. My husband took me out to a lumber yard and we found some gorgeous raw edge planks of wood. We bought 3 and used 2 in the dressing room and one over the sofa. My vintage cameras have been in storage for a while so I pulled those out and for some reason I like displaying lightbulbs (but I need a better bowl) so there we have it – a little display of stuff and things.

I stopped in at the new Modern Shop downtown location last weekend (I blogged it here) and could not resist picking up a couple things. (More on that and other goodies after the jump!)

Two of my favourite brands – Normann Copenhagen and HAY. 🙂 The Normann Copenhagen Dropit hooks (large) now reside on the wall next to the front door. We don’t have a closet or anywhere to hang a purse of jacket when you walk in so I thought they would come in handy.

Also in the kitchen, I’ve got a new centrepiece on my dining table thanks to a bunch of goodies from Highjinx (a local non-profit thrift shop where proceeds help the homeless). For about $40 I scored some really cool silver items (that I added to some I already had). I dug out a silver tray from the basement that my grandmother had given me and voilà, new bling on my table.

The piece above is really neat. It is a vase on one end and a candleholder on the other. (It is marked with “NORWAY PEWTER”). My candle didn’t fit the candle end so I just shoved a few in the vase end. 🙂

Last but not least – my bedroom. I had cheap rattan blinds that stuck out from the window a good 4 inches so light would shine right in our eyes if we were lucky enough to sleep in (or the streetlights would shine in). I FINALLY got rid of them and found some cute black and white retro tree curtains at Ikea (that I “hemmed” with hockey tape temporarily – it was all I had). I also picked up a new duvet cover that I thought would work with the curtains and the very pale pink walls. The room has had no real colour or pattern going on lately so this was a HUGE improvement. And a few of the cats were stoked that I actually made the bed (in my defense there are always cats or a husband asleep on it so I have given up bothering – unless I take photos). On the bed is an otami pillow that my parents brought me back from Puerto Vallarta (I stupidly didn’t buy it when I was there but got them to pick it up before they came home). I had never seen otami in black and white there so I was stoked to find it and the piece of otami fabric I did end up buying there.

I like all these pictures a lot. thanks very much for sharing. I like where you have gone in the bedroom with the black and white and cats. Why oh why are they always on the bed. I have one that is on the bed 21 hours in a day. And another who will visit only when I am in it. Your table bling is wonderful and very pulled together.

Pati says:

Evan says:

April 22, 2013

Hi if I remember correctly you live in the Ottawa area? If so I'd love to know where you got the edge plank of wood. Great idea and looks perfect with old cameras on it. I have a couple of the same cameras myself. Although I jus put these shelves up this weekend – https://www.dropbox.com/s/62ie5dt0gho0fna/D7K_0858.jpg

KiM says:

April 22, 2013

@rebecca – the first thing I'm going to buy when I get a new house is a KING SIZED BED! Thanks to the cats we're always fighting for space. @Pati – thanks!@Evan – it's from The Wood Source out in Manotick (about $20). Love your space!

KiM says:

Hi Kim! I loved this post. As always, it's so fun to watch your style evolve and change. I also like displaying lightbulbs, so you are not alone! Although you have cooler ones than I have (here's a post where I put some in a glass vase, if you are interested:

Lately I've been on a hunt for pink light bulbs and can't find them. Should've bought them all when I saw them. Your bedroom is an amazing mix of texture and pattern. Really lovely. Oh – and what's this? Your demolishing your home? I must have missed something, I thought you were just renovating?

KiM says:

April 23, 2013

Hey Peggy! Thx for the kind words. Pink light bulbs – that's SO you and would be perfect in your place! Yeah, a while back when we found out the plans we decided on with the architect for the renos were garbage (long story) we thought about it some more and realized this house is CRAP and there is really nothing worth saving… and it might end up costing us money by keeping it rather than starting new. Unfortunately some stuff has come up since then that has stopped new plans from happening. Hopefully this set-back won't last too much longer!